


Cat Caretaker

by Skysquid22



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Banter, Cat Lover Gavin Reed, Cats, Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Fluff, I'm still trying to figure these two out, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pets, Prequel to One Step Forward, Relationship set to simmer, Slow Burn, Soft Upgraded Connor | RK900, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 13:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16409180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skysquid22/pseuds/Skysquid22
Summary: In which Gavin adopts another cat and Nines ends up along for the ride.





	Cat Caretaker

**Author's Note:**

> Will Graham is to dogs as Gavin Reed is to cats.

The ride to the crime scene was relatively quiet. Detective Reed’s radio was set to a low murmur of a popular rock station, either one of them could have talked over it with ease. However it was unnecessary as it was a simple ride and Nines knew that Reed did not favor his attempts at small talk in the slightest. So he sat, hands in his lap, back straight, and waited for Gavin to arrive on the scene. 

But, as Nines was calculating the path of least resistance through traffic for his own sake, Gavin cut through two lanes and slammed on the breaks once they hit the narrow shoulder of the road. 

“Detective, what are you--”

He was cut off by Gavin unlocking his seatbelt and climbing out of the car. Apparently braving the road, where cars didn’t care if he became roadkill or not, was better than driving to a crime scene. Grunting, he waved him off, “Hold on plastic.”

The roads were already busy enough as they were, but combined with the slick rain coming down in sheets with no sign on stopping until three in the afternoon, it seemed like Reed had a death wish by getting out. The car was pulled over onto a shoulder that was clearly not meant for an event like this and parked so close to the other lanes that when cars sped past it shook the entire vehicle. Nines had every intention on giving an unwanted earful about the danger he put them in soon as Gavin got back from whatever mission he decided was _this_ important. 

Interestingly, the trip had to be quick enough to warrant the car to remain on.

Nines looked back towards his side door window and used his jacket to wipe away the perspiration. Peering through the foggy glass he saw just off the side of the road were two concrete benches. Reed hunched over the closest one, head down towards the base of the bench. From his angle it was impossible to tell what the detective was trying to achieve. What did he see under there that RK900 failed to notice? 

One knee down in the large puddles, Gavin remained in the position undeterred from the rain. Sixty degrees in a warm and windy rainfall. Considering weather conditions and the fact he was sitting on a busy dirty road, significantly heightened the probability of getting sick. Surely, he knew this? Then again, Reed surprised him constantly by being one of the most reckless human beings on the planet. 

Sitting back into the battered seating Nines watched Reed try to coax something out from the bench. Then, in a swift and stupid move he removed his leather jacket and pulled it towards whatever was residing underneath. Nines tried not to show his curiosity at the action, but failed and squinted anyway. He had a horrible habit of doing that, Gavin in fact had already figured it out and called him out. When his LED didn’t tell him what he was thinking, stupid microexpressions RK900 had picked up filled the gaps.

Now only in a tight v-neck Detective Reed continued to coax something from the bench. Nines checked his internal clock, they’ve been pulled over in this awkward spot for over ten minutes, staying any longer would be ill advised. They should be reporting to the crime scene as soon as possible. 

Nines was half tempted to honk the horn as a sign to _hurry the hell up,_ but refrained himself from stooping to his level.

A moment later Gavin leaned forward and in one swift movement grabbed something from the bottom of the bench and sprang up. When he turned, he sprinted into it and made a beeline for the car. At last the veil was lifted and Nines finally saw what the Detective had grabbed. Cradled in his arms was large grey cat, who was becoming angrier the longer they were in the rain. It was also flipped on its back and the jacket it was cocooned in did little to protect either parties as the cat kept clawing upwards. Gavin did his best to evade each swipe of it’s paws, but a few left thin angry red marks. Over the roar of the rain, Nines could hear him swear loudly. 

Then Gavin approached his door and instead of putting the hissing, dirty, mess into the backseat he yanked open Nines’ passenger door and practically threw the cat and his jacket onto his lap. Another second later the cat readjusted itself and made a break for it. Nines, acting on reaction, grabbed it before it could escape and Reed closed the door, trapping them in. 

Somehow even more pissed off the cat howled and tried to scramble out of his grasp. Not having it, Nines put enough pressure on the back of its neck and maneuvered it into a more comfortable position. After he let go, the cat shrank and tried to make itself smaller. It’s claws digged in deep, Gavin’s leather jacket protected most of him but a few stray nails managed to get through his jeans. The cat wasn’t able to break through his skin, but if he was human the chances were likely. 

After another round of playing Chicken with oncoming vehicles, Gavin at last got in. For a brief moment only sounds were rain on the windows, heavy breathing from Reed, and the low growls from the stray cat, accompanied by the light thumps of the cats’ tail hitting Nines. Reed took another deep breath and peeled into traffic, the action wasn’t smooth so the cat hissed loudly. 

Nines just looked at him.

Hair breaking form and a few wet strands falling onto his face, he pushes them out of the way which allows Nines to see the fresh scratches on his face. They’ll won’t scar, but it’s likely they could get infected. 

“I _really_ hope you got your shots.” 

Gavin’s already scowling face pinches in frustration. “Just. Shut the fuck up.” He looked over just to give a sharp glare, “I got them all, calm down. I’m not gonna die.”

“Maybe not from bartonellosis, but you are shivering and your BPM has--” Nines was cut off the sudden blaring of music. A moment later Gavin shut if off and spoke into the tense air, “Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up? Something get lost in translation?” 

Nines didn’t dignify that with a response, he simply continued to stare. The tactic was actually pretty successful, RK900’s were built for intimidation and getting information out of people. It took awhile to figure it out, but staring the Detective down got him to crumble more often than not. Sure enough, practically on cue, Gavin sat up and shivered.

“God. Can you quit staring at me like that?” he put his attention back on the road and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Reed always seemed to do some sort of tapping motion when he was thinking. Breaking out of his stupor, Gavin sighed, “Shit, can’t you scan the cat for health and whatnot? Or was Anderson fucking with me?” 

Nines turned away pretending like he didn’t just get what he wanted. And electing to ignore the oxymoron of commands he said, “No, Lieutenant Anderson was not ‘fucking with you’.” Other than the fact that the cat had some temperament issues, like a certain someone he knew, a quick check gave him satisfying results, “No diseases immediately prevalent. She’s a maine coon and not chipped, so you really do have a stray on our hands.”

Gavin sighed, but Nines couldn’t tell if it was in disappointment or relief. 

He decided to cut down on the specifics for now. He’ll just give him a full report at a later date, there were more pressing matters that Nines wanted to know. Back to his soon to be overused staring tactic he readied a question with an analysis.

“Considering how easily you did this act and that your face and hands are covered in scratches and bite marks in a similar nature, I’m willing to bet that this is not the first time you’ve picked up a stray cat.” Gavin squirmed under his gaze, but kept his eyes on the road. He also started to fidget with his hands, leading Nines to believe that he was self conscious about the charitable deed. Picking up stray cats, a mark of an admirable man on anyone else, but for Gavin it could’ve been misconstrued as an act of weakness in the eyes of others. 

Nines thought that he could feel something shift in his body. Some valve or pump skipping a beat. A short diagnostic turned up nothing of the sort. LED now pinwheeling yellow, he ignored it and leaned in slightly to catch Gavin’s eye. 

“Why do you take these cats?” 

Stubborn as a mule Detective Reed refused to reply. He squinted, stopped fidgeting his fingers, and instead trapped them to the steering wheel. Really RK900 should be thankful that he was paying so much attention to the road, but part of him yearned for an answer. 

Slowly, Nines reclined back and looked back towards his window, perspiration and rain covered it giving him a blurry view of the outside world. Objects and people simply became shapes. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Gavin sigh, shrug, and shake his head. 

Murmuring, “I don’t know. It’s just something I do.” He ran a hand through his hair again, a nervous gesture?

Internally Nines catalogued the quiet moment. A steady, calm, genuine answer from the person who tolerated him the most. He was starting to think that staring Reed into submission was a good plan to get information, but overuse of it would lose its effect overtime. It was also making Nines uncomfortable when he used it. It was hard to not have each interaction feel like an interrogation, he _wanted_ it to be genuine and repurposing his programing for acts like these felt wrong. 

RK900 added an attached note to the new memory, _Don’t rely on intimidation tactics for everything._ A tall order considering who he was, but Nines always appreciated a challenge. 

“Hey, before you lecture me about going the wrong way I’m telling you now that we’re making a quick stop at my apartment.” 

Simply to get his displeasure across, Nines sighed. 

Gavin rolled his eyes and reclined back into his seat. He at last looked comfortable. “God, you’re such a drama queen. You don’t need to fucking breath and you do this shit.”

Nines replied with a steady voice, “I’d thought acting more like a person would be beneficial. After all you don’t seem to respect me as an android, so maybe a more human approach might get you to care.”

His shoulders tensed again, so much for being comfortable. He let out a slow breath, “It’ll be quick you prick. And besides, what are you gonna do, walk there? No, and we aren’t just gonna leave her in this car while we fucking investigate.”

He hated to admit it, but the detective was right. Not like he’ll want him to know, “I’m not suggesting any of those things, only that we make this a short trip.”

They stayed silent the rest of the ride, even the cat kept her mouth shut. 

Nines had never been to the detective’s residence and much to his surprise, he found that he actually wanted to. Much of Gavin was a mystery, personal matters for instance never came up. There was not one point where Gavin talked about his family so Nines chose to not look into the matter. Reed was openly gay, but never mentioned any kind of relationship ever. He was starting to think that Detective Reed’s problem was that he had no loved ones to speak of rather than a refusal to not talk about them in general. But, the ladder could also be true.

A trip to his apartment still excited Nines, there Gavin really and truly couldn’t control what information was given out. He also elected to ignore the fact that he was wanting personal information with no good reason behind it. 

Nines frowned and wondered briefly if his creators knew he was a deviant. A strong sense of disappointment struck him, a leftover of his machine self. 

Banking on human failure, Nines hoped that Gavin didn’t see his LED spin yellow from the little… crisis. 

They were reaching a lot of new unsteady ground, Gavin was even quieter than normal. Normally he wouldn’t shut up, insults, remarks, everything was fair game. Perhaps last months’ _incident_ was having a bigger effect than Nines thought. He added a note to keep in mind when they had a long quiet moment to themselves. 

→ Ask about silence in relation to the August shooting. 

Eventually they arrived to a tall building. The structure was easy to analyze, since there were thousands of apartment buildings just like it. There was no apparent elevator, but there was a walkup. Unfortunately, it wasn’t covered. 

With a mattered brooding cat in his hands Nines stepped out of the car, right on Gavin’s heels. Luckily the rain dispelled into a light sprinkle as they got out, but it was still coming down quickly and time was of the essence so Reed jogged straight to his door. As he walked up to join him, Nines pretended not to notice him covering his deeper breaths with huffing as he tired to get his keys out. The cat, wet and pissed off again, was now putting effort into scratching up his face. Her claws only got caught on his pliable skin, never breaking it. Upon further analysis of her fur, it seemed that the grey was only dirt that had piled up on it over time. The cat was actually white.

Once Gavin finally unlocked the door, he stopped and turned. Maintaining eye contact Reed pointed an accusatory finger him and started to speak over the hissing cat, “Don’t you dare scan my apartment you little shit.” 

Deciding to be cheeky and hoping to stir up some banter Nines tried his hand at a smirk. Based on Gavin’s immediate scowl and pursed lips the attempt did not go well. Shaking his head, Reed just pushed open his door and muttered under his breath, “What is up with you today.”

Although quite clearly rhetoric, Nines decided to answer anyway. Following him, hands carefully around the cat and jacket he shot back, “What is up with you being so quiet.” 

Gavin sauntered into the apartment and went into the kitchen. “What is up with you not learning to mind your own damn business.” 

RK900 followed him through the living room, but stopped there. “What is up with you being such an ass?”

Now yelling out from the kitchen, “What is up with you being a pain in my ass?” 

The cat in his arms started to scramble and hiss even more, “What is up with you not being able to clean your own fucking apartment?” They could go around in the circle all day, but unfortunately they couldn’t so Nines prevented him from getting the last word, “What do you want me to do with the cat?”

He didn’t get an immediate reply so he analyzed the living room. 

At the far end of the room was a window, leading to a fire escape. Just sat on the edge were two cats, both clearly wet from the rain. In the right corner was a cat tree with three other cats, which was situated right next to the tv. The left side of the room gave way to a couch, then farther was the kitchen were Gavin was preparing bowls of food among dirty dishes and empty boxes. 

At the sound of the cat food bag opening, two of the three cats from the tree got up and sprinted across the living room. Not miffed at all, Reed continued with the task. “Just set her down I guess.”

Soon as Nines loosened his grip the cat took the opportune time to scramble out of hands and land on the ground with a light thud. Then, she darted down the hallway that was connected to the far right side of the living room. Nines could only assume that the hallway led to the bedroom and bathroom. 

Job done, he started to pick the cat hairs off his CyberLife jacket. He’d noticed it before, but the sheer amount of cat hairs in the apartment was astonishing, Nines found himself with the urge to clean it all up. Detective Reed’s clothing was covered, how did he get all of these cats?

While he was mulling over the question, Gavin headed over to the window and lifted up the lower sash. The two cats from the fire escape meowed and jumped inside, one of the two eating padded to the window and left. After that he pulled it back down and locked it. 

Nines didn’t know what to say. 

The movements were fluid and precise. He knew these cats well, including their habits. 

Satisfied, Gavin walked back over and grabbed his fur ridden jacket from Nines’ open hand. While he was still trying to rid of the stray stubborn hairs on his own white jacket, Gavin’s brown leather got a few swipes of a hand to shake some off. That was apparently deemed acceptable for Detective Reed since he put it back on and stared up at him. Nines held back his disgusted look. 

A second later Gavin tugged on his arm, urging him back towards the door. “What the hell did I say? Come on Nines.” 

Not deterred in the slightest, he took one last look at his cats and the state of the apartment. He filed the memory away under the G.Reed file. 

As they left, Nines gave a proper smirk. If anything he was just handed blackmail. Though, he immediately doubted it’s effectiveness. If he had learned anything from Gavin it was that the detective was passionate about a handful of things and poured his heart and opinion into it. Even if it was hating androids. 

The things he wasn’t passionate in, were neglected and never talked about. Paperwork and apparently loved ones fell into that category. The parameters for the observation had outliers, but Nines found it to be a great discovery of his character. 

He caught himself. Often the machine parts of him got ahead of him and turned deviancy into analytics. 

But, still. 

Nines was pleased with the information that Gavin had a bit of a heart of gold. Taking care of cats less fortunate as it were. He was also joyed that he got to see his partners apartment, though why he was enjoying that stumped him. 

The feeling required further analysis. 

Shutting the door and starting the car Gavin scoffed, “ _God._ Could you quit gloating?” 

Caught, but not ashamed, Nines only widened his grin slightly and looked away through the window.


End file.
